Aerial AssistFRC 2014AERIAL ASSIST is played by two competing Alliances of three Robots each on a flat 25’ x 54’ foot field, straddled by a lighting truss suspended just over five feet above the floor. The objective is to score as many balls in goals as possible during a 2 minute and 30 second match. The more Alliances score their ball in their goals, and the more they work together to do it, the more points their alliance receives.

The match begins with one 10-second Autonomous Period in which robots operate independently of driver. Each robot may begin with a ball and attempt to score it in a goal. Alliances earn bonus points for scoring balls in this mode and for any of their robots that move in to their zones. Additionally, each high/low pair of goals will be designated “hot” for five seconds, but the order of which side is first is randomized. For each ball scored in a “hot” goal, the Alliance earns additional bonus points.

For the rest of the match, drivers remotely control robots from behind a protective wall. Once all balls in autonomous are scored, only one ball is re-entered in to play, and the Alliances must cycle a single ball as many times as possible for the remainder of the match. With the single ball, they try to maximize their points earned by throwing balls over the truss, catching balls launched over the truss, and scoring in the high and low goals on the far side of the field.

Alliances receive large bonuses for “assists,” which are earned for each robot that has possession of the ball in a zone as the ball moves down the field.

2014 RobotDrivetrain

4 CIM 6 wheel drive with dropped center

4 inch wheels

Geared at approximately 10 fps

Intake

Could intake ball, hold the ball in, and kick back out for a "KISS" pass

Pivoted from the top of the robot

Used gyroscope feedback to hold different angles

Arm position powered by a RS-550 through a 300:1 reduction

4 orange BaneBot wheels powered by a BAG motor through a 9:1 reduction

Catapult

Surgical tubing powered

Sheet metal flanges to help position ball

4 rubber bumpers acted as hard stops

Adjustable to a variety of angles by bolting hard stops into different holes

Winch

Modified 2 CIM Ballshifter powered by 2 CIMs

Pulled out balls from high gear to create a neutral stage

Used a secondary pneumatic cylinder to lock winch drum in place to relieve stress from the shifting cylinder

To fire both cylinders are retracted so the gearbox isn't engaged

2014 EventsFIRST Utah RegionalMarch 13, 2014 - March 15, 2014

Results:

29th Seed

Semi-finalists (Thanks 1619 and 399)

This was our 5th year attending the Utah Regional, and we were determined to build on our successes of last year.

This year we only bagged our drivetrain and electronics because the rest of our robot was under the 45 lb withholding allowance. This mean that on Thursday we had to reassemble most of our bot. Very few modifications were needed, and it went together about as smoothly as assembling a robot can go. We were able to make it out for only one practice match, but all of the systems were in mostly working order. The robot was then fully inspected and then tweaked until the pits closed for the day.

The first day of qualifications matches wasn't very good for our team. We had a variety of communication problems, and it was eventually traced back to our cRIO. After we did a factory reset we thought we fixed the problem, but then the electrical issues began showcasing themselves. Eventually by the end of the day we were back up and running at almost 100%, but unfortunately our rankings were horrible because we had lost the majority of our matches.

Saturday morning we were finally playing well. Our catapult was becoming troublesome, so we made the decision to disable it and ziptie it down. We would focus solely on being an inbounder and playing defense. The first 3 matches were decent, but our last qualification match with 399 and 2437 was almost magical. Our alliance was able to pull off triple assists, truss shots, and catches with our team being the inbounder. Spirits were high after this match, and we were crossing our fingers going into alliance selections. Our team had high hopes going into alliance selections, but as it moved on they began to get lower and lower. Eventually it was back to the number one alliance of 1619 "Up a Creek Robotics" and 399 "Eagle Robotics." When they chose our team as their 2nd pick our team erupted! We knew that this alliance had the potential to do very well.

In our alliance's first quarterfinal we ended up losing. 1619 threw a belt in their drive train, and our alliance wasn't able to recover. We then went out and played a hard second quarterfinal, but we also lost that match. A blue ball was accidentally lodged in our bot, and our intake motor burned up so we couldn't eject it which is two technical fouls. However, because of field faults on both sides relating to pedestal lighting issues led to that match being replayed. After swapping out motors and making a few other minor fixes, our alliance went on to win the next two matches to advance to the semi-finals.

In the first semi-finals match everything seemed to be going very well. We were inbounding and playing defense like crazy, and once the match ended we believed that we had won. Unfortunately that was not the case, a technical foul had been called on our team and we had lost by 2 points. There wasn't anything we could do, so we just prepared to play the second match. To our horror at the start of the match our robot was unresponsive. Our bot was dead in the water the entire match, but our alliance partners still managed to pull of an incredible win! We pulled the bot off the field and were frantically troubleshooting. The problem couldn't be found, so the decision to call in a backup robot was made. After the bot was called in we finally discovered that our sidecar had been fried. We quickly swapped it out to see if that was the only problem, and it was. The robot was working completely fine again, but it was too late. Our alliance went out and played an awesome third semi-final match, but unfortunately another technical foul ended our alliance's run to the finals.

Even though we were plagued by a crazy amount of issues our team had an absolute blast! We had made it farther than our team ever has before, and it was a real eye opener for us. We learned so much from our experiences and our alliance partners as well, we were truly fortunate to be partnered with 2 such great teams. All we can do now is take all the lessons we learned and apply them to next year. Our team is already excited and we can't wait for what is in store for us!